Stochastic adhesion of hydroxylated atomic force microscopy tips to supported lipid bilayers

This work reports results of an atomic force microscopy (AFM) study of adhesion force between hydroxylated AFM tips and supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) of phosphatidylcholine in phosphate buffer saline solution at neutral pH. Silicon nitride AFM probes were hydroxylated by treatment in water vapor plasma and used in force spectroscopy measurements of adhesion force on SLBs with control of contact loading force and residence time. The measurements showed a stochastic behavior of adhesion force that was attributed to stochastic formation of hydrogen bonds between the hydroxyl groups on the AFM tip and oxygen atoms from the phosphate groups of the phosphatidylcholine molecules. Analysis of a large number of force curves revealed a very low probability of hydrogen bond formation, a probability that increased with the increase of contact loading force and residence time. The variance and mean values of adhesion force showed a linear dependence on each other, which indicated that hydrogen bond formation obeyed the Poisson distribution of probability. This allowed for the quantitative determination of the rupture force per hydrogen bond of about 40 pN and showed the absence of other nonspecific interaction forces.